Pre-E3 2006: Mobile Ops: The One Year War

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We check out an early trailer of this upcoming mechanized shooter.

By Charles Onyett

Based on the popular Gundam anime series, Xbox 360 gamers will get to hop into virtual versions of Mobile Suits in Mobile Ops: The One Year War. Currently set to release during holiday season of 2006, the game will allow for combat in and out of Mobile Suits. Like any Gundam fan would know, the game's action doesn't happen in a vacuum. Rather, there's an elaborate backstory placing you at different points around the world during the One Year War. The fictional conflict has Rebel colonies battling against the forces of Earth for control, a conflict that first saw the emergence of Mobile Suits.

We didn't get a chance to actually play the game, as it's still early on. While many of the gameplay details have yet to be finalized, we did get a chance to check out a trailer and ask some questions. The trailer featured brief glimpses of lumbering Mobile Suits, blasting off their powerful weaponry in wilderness and urban environments. Players will have the ability to fully customize their Mobile Suits, including weaponry and sensors. A more interesting detail is the inclusion of a Mobile Suit melee system, giving players the ability to engage in hand-to-hand battles with others using heat hawks, beam sabers, and more. We were told Mobile Ops is going to have a distinctly action-oriented approach to appeal more to North American gamers, the particulars of which were not disclosed.

As you progress through the game's single player campaign, you'll see the evolution of Mobile Suit models as the One Year War stretches on. All the different Suits that pop up will be modeled down to their exact, specific details from the Gundam source material, including boarding and ejecting protocols. In addition to the single player campaign, there will also be multiplayer modes, where you'll be able to play as teams and squads. Details beyond this were sparse, however, as many are still being worked out.

From the trailer we saw, it seemed like players could hop into Mobile Suits whenever they ran near one on a battlefield. A few clips were shown of a soldier jumping up into his mechanized weapon after running across a field, then continuing to fight. The specifics of how this dynamic will play out is still being worked on. Visually, the game looks decent so far, the sense of scale being the most impressive thing. Overall they still looked very early, and every downed Mobile Suit collapsed with exactly the same animation. This is being worked on as well. When asked whether players can expect Mobile Suits to get dismembered after being shot up, we were told it was still being worked on.

We've uploaded some new screens below. Expect to see more when we check this title out at E3.